knight

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A young servant or follower; a trained military attendant in service of a lord.
  2. A minor nobleman with an honourable military rank who had served as a page and squire.
  3. An armored and mounted warrior of the Middle Ages.
  4. A person obliged to provide knight service in exchange for maintenance of an estate held in knight's fee.
  5. A person on whom a knighthood has been conferred by a monarch.
  6. A brave, chivalrous and honorable man devoted to a noble cause or love interest.
  7. A chess piece, often in the shape of a horse's head, that is moved two squares in one direction and one at right angles to that direction in a single move, leaping over any intervening pieces.
  8. A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack.
  9. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Ypthima.
  10. Any mushroom belonging to genus Tricholoma.
  11. A species of nymphalid butterfly, Lebadea martha, found in tropical and subtropical Asia.
verb
  1. To confer knighthood upon.
  2. To promote (a pawn) to a knight.
name
  1. An English surname originating as an occupation for someone who was a mounted soldier.
  2. A town in Iron County, Wisconsin, United States.
  3. A settlement on Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands.

Pronunciation

/ˈnaɪ̯t/ [ˈnaɪ̯t] en-us-knight.ogg /ˈnɐɪ̯t/ [ˈnɐɪ̯t] /ˈnɜɪ̯t/ [ˈnɜɪ̯t] /ˈnʌɪ̯t/ [ˈnʌɪ̯t] /ˈnəɪ̯t/ [ˈnəɪ̯t] /ˈnɑɪ̯t/ [ˈnɑ̟ɪ̯t] /ˈnɒɪ̯t/ [ˈnɒ̈ɪ̯t] /naɪt/

Word forms

knight knights knyght knighting knighted

Etymology

From Middle English knight, knyght, kniht, from Old English cniht (“boy; servant, knight”), from Proto-West Germanic *kneht.

Synonyms

Related words

Derived words

ale-knight ashen knight beknight belted knight birch knight bitter knight black knight blue-spot knight booted knight burnt knight carpet knight chemical knight Dark Knight dark-scaled knight deceiving knight dusky knight elf-knight Four Knights Game giant knight girdled knight gray knight grey knight imperial knight knight adventurer knight adventurous knightage knight anole Knight Bachelor knight-bairn knight banneret knight-banneret knight baronet knight brother knight caligate knight caligate of arms knight-cross knightdom knight errant knight-errant knight-errantry knight-erratic knightess knightfully knighthead knight-head knighthood knightify knight in shining armor knight in shining armour knightless knightlet knightlike knightling knightly knightmare knight marshal knight-marshal knight-money knight of adventurers knight of arms
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